


a little game

by Zei_Legato



Category: Nijisanji
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Romance, and i could not resist such temptation, the prompt was given to me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27686701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zei_Legato/pseuds/Zei_Legato
Summary: “The ‘I love you’ game,” Lize grins widely. “I’ve heard from Ange that you’re impossible to beat, so I wanna try it.”
Relationships: Inui Toko/Lize Helesta
Kudos: 17





	a little game

**Author's Note:**

> hi. this prompt was tossed my way by chesu. i needed something to write today. so this happened. enjoy.

It’s a hot summer day in Lize’s house. The princess has invited Ange and Toko over to play, but Ange has some business to attend to at the office regarding her upcoming collaboration with Nui. Toko comes over right away, bringing two whole shopping bags, one filled with cold drinks while the other is full of potato chips. They’ve talked and laughed about various things since her arrival, but by mid-afternoon, all energy to even speak has been sapped out of them by the heat. There are still plenty of cold drinks, but not even those have proven to be of much help.

The fan Lize has had since morning only blows warm air their way, with Toko looking like she’s close to passing out in her seat even though she’s been trying not to mind the heat by scrolling down her phone. Lize’s sure she’s seen her scroll back up many times since she started and the only thing keeping her conscious is the potato chips. It doesn’t even look like she’s found anything new because her ears have been drooping lower and lower with each scroll. Lize just wishes her AC isn’t broken and her phone isn’t charging at the moment.

Then an idea struck her.

“Hey, do you wanna play a game?” Lize rolls over to lay on her stomach as she looks up at Toko’s half-lidded eyes.

Ears perking up at the mention of a game, Toko gives Lize a small smile—her teasing smile, Lize recognizes, “Tell me what game first.”

“The ‘I love you’ game,” Lize grins widely. “I’ve heard from Ange that you’re impossible to beat, so I wanna try it.”

“Oh, that,” Toko laughs as she puts her phone on the table and lies down on the floor across Lize to face her properly. “I just think she wasn’t really ready that time.”

“Well, I’m not letting my guard down,” Lize sticks out her tongue, earning a chuckle from the Cerberus.

“There goes my sure chance of winning.” Toko props her chin up with her hand, gesturing for Lize to begin the game. “Princess goes first.”

Scrunching her nose up jokingly at the sudden mention of her title, Lize clears her throat. She’ll take it easy on the first move, so it doesn’t take her longer than a second to whisper, “… I love you.”

There is absolutely no reaction whatsoever from Toko, not even anything meaningful from the movements of her ears nor her slowly-swaying tail. As she’s expected—it’s just the first turn, after all. Toko’s gaze is completely focused on her as she takes a deep breath and gently whispers back, “I love you.”

That whisper _almost_ did something to Lize, but she manages to shrug it off as she thinks up of her next move. She watches Toko’s eyebrow raise slightly at the lack of reaction. The small gesture alone makes her proud—she’s not telling Toko that she almost faltered, though. Lize is having this one. Now, with a little more oomph to it, she tells herself. With her voice just a little above a whisper, Lize takes her turn, “I love you.”

Still little to no reaction. With rock-paper-scissors, at least Lize knows it’s nigh impossible to win against Toko because of her self-proclaimed lag, but _this_ is something else entirely. If she didn’t know better, Lize would’ve thought Toko might be incapable of feeling such an emotion, considering where she came from. But she’s seen Toko be caught off-guard during streams, so there must be something… there must be a weak spot somewhere. Too busy racking her brain over how to beat the Cerberus, Lize doesn’t notice that Toko has closed the distance between them, their noses almost touching as she says, “I love you.”

Holding back a scream out of surprise, Lize inhales sharply (has Toko always smelled so particularly nice?) and she has to admit that she’s struggling a little to keep her cool. Blood could’ve rushed up to her face so fast had she been more embarrassed than scared—she’s just thankful that it takes her completely by surprise that she’s more shocked than anything else. After studying Lize’s face for a moment, Toko leans back with a soft chuckle. Lize is _so_ going to take that smirk off Toko’s face. “… Okay, that was pretty good.”

“I know.” Toko’s smirk grows wider as she stares at Lize expectantly. “You’re doing well yourself.”

“It’s _me_ you’re talking to,” Lize huffs with a grin. She readies herself for her next move. It’s time to get serious. In all honesty, she may have started to feel something beyond platonic for the Cerberus. Not because of the game they’re playing, no. It’s just… she’s never really noticed it until recently. Sometimes she finds herself staring too long at Toko’s smile, sometimes she finds herself putting Toko’s songs on loop, and sometimes… sometimes she simply wants to be _something else_ for Toko. Keeping these thoughts in mind, she looks at Toko in the eyes and mutters under her breath, “I love you, Toko-taya.”

For this one, Lize _finally_ gets a reaction. Toko’s tail stops swaying and her ears perk up towards Lize’s direction. She doesn’t seem to be embarrassed, however, but Lize does relish the sight of Toko’s smirk disappearing from her face. She hasn’t won yet, she knows that, but it feels satisfying all the same. This is it, she’s finally found her chance to—“I love you too, Ize.”

_… Wait._

_Wait._

_WAIT._

“HA?!” Lize lets out, much louder than she would’ve liked. Her face is hot, much hotter than it was before they started the game. Seeing Toko flinch back at the sound, Lize immediately reaches out to take her hand in hers, “I-I’m sorry! I was—I, uh...!”

On the contrary, Toko doesn’t seem as upset as Lize thinks. In fact, she seems _very_ amused. There’s a faint hue of red on her cheeks, but winning or losing the game now isn’t really the case. Something tells Lize that… that last turn was _not_ part of the game.

“Did you… were you… was that…?” Curse her brain for being unable to process complete sentences at a time like this.

“Do you want it to be?” Toko asks her calmly, still with a smile gracing her lips. “Do you ever wonder why I can easily say ‘sure’ whenever you ask something from me? Do you ever wonder why I gave you the special permission to bury your face in my tail whenever you want to? Do you ever wonder why I pick up your calls in the dead of the night when you can’t sleep?”

“Oh… Oh dear… god, this is so embarrassing,” Lize mumbles as she covers her face with her hands and screams into her palms. The sound of Toko’s laugh echoes throughout the room, always the one to be very entertained by Lize’s reactions.

Ange is never, _never_ going to let her live this down.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it. But just so you know, Ize…” Toko says, gently prying Lize’s hands off her face and sneaks a quick kiss on the princess’ red cheek, “… you won the game.”

And on that day, Lize Helesta won the ‘I love you’ game, the prize being a Cerberus known as Toko Inui to spend her days with from that moment on.

**Author's Note:**

> HHHHUEHUHEHHEHHHHHHHHU WHAT IS THAT ENDING BUT ALSO thank you for reading hhuhuhhhhhuhhhhuehehhehuhehuuu


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